Thursday, 26 January 2017

This week I have been concentrating on the Secret Project. I am now quilting the eleventh and final panel, and eight of the panels are now joined onto their neighbours. Suddenly the quilt seems immense.The backing is all the same plain blue, and for the joining strips I have used this incredibly expensive blue floral cotton.

Shamrocks and oak leaves are a recurring theme in the quilting, and throwing the poppy seed heads into the mix has been fun.

Here goes for Week 123...The project that caught my eye in Week 122 was Louise's beautiful houses quilt. If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over nowand have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Tuesday, 24 January 2017

Fear of zips, the dreaded zipphobia, is yet to be conquered. Earlier this month I put the zip in to the fitted dress that I am making for my daughter. It was not a happy experience. I have never been keen on zips would rather have buttons and buttonholes any day, but I thought I should make the effort.So here it is. Mrs Perfectionist isn't altogether satisfied, but greatly consoled in the knowledge that daughter couldn't care less.As you can see, the invisible zip is visible and will probably gape when the dress is on.

Also, the stitch holes are visible on the folded edges of the opening. That is because I machine sewed the centre back seams first, of both the outer layer and the lining, with a large stitch, and sandwiched the zip between them before sewing it to the seam allowances on the inside. The whole thing was a total faff that took hours, not helped by the fact that I needed to hand stitch the top and bottom where the sewing machine couldn't get into the fiddly corners.

I know that there are dressmakers out there who can insert invisible zips into lined dresses at the drop of a hat. I searched the internet for a tutorial, and found a couple that helped, but really didn't tell the whole story.

So does anyone know where I can find the Ultimate Invisible Zip With Linings Tutorial, the one that gives all the detail and doesn't leave you cussing? Links please.

Thursday, 19 January 2017

Ever been spoilt for choice when choosing batiks? Now that I am reaching the final stages of the Secret Project, with ten of the eleven panels completed, I have started to assemble the quilt. None of the fabrics I had at home fitted the bill, so it was a great excuse for a shopping trip to find the perfect match for the joining strips.

As it turned out, I found two perfect matches, one with a lighter background...

... and the other with a darker background.

The end is in sight, but this project still needs to stay under wraps until May.

Here goes for Week 122...The project that caught my eye in Week 121 was Heulwen's gorgeous 3D daffodils and tulips wall hanging. If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over nowand have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Tuesday, 17 January 2017

Last week, while free motion quilting with my Singer 15K treadle, there was a slight hiccup with the stitch. On a couple of occasions the thread broke. Then the tension was slightly off, with the bobbin thread loose and showing through to the right side. Nothing was obviously wrong, the top and bottom threads were both correctly threaded, so I adjusted the tension both at the tension discs, and tightened the screw on the bobbin case. I tested the stitch, and it seemed fine.Everything went smoothly for a while, and then on two occasions the tension totally fouled up with massive loops coming up from underneath. When I took out the bobbin case the thread wasn't in the right position, as above...

...but it had slipped out of place, like this.

This has happened about three or four times in the past few weeks, and I had assumed I was being a bit careless and not threading the bobbin properly. This time I decided I had to fix the problem. When I pulled at the thread I found that if the bobbin is correctly threaded it is impossible the pull it out of place from the outside - the lip on the tension plate that curls under the edge of the hole prevents it from slipping. The thread could only have shifted out of place from the inside.

The culprit had to be the actual bobbin.

I had been using three bobbins in rotation, the old solid sided bobbin on the right (the only one I have) along with two newer bobbins with holes, like the one on the left. I compared the old bobbin with the newer ones and found that it is a fraction smaller. I don't think it is from another model machine; my guess is that over time the edge has worn away as a result of friction against the inside of the bobbin case as it has rotated. Somehow this must have allowed a little too much play in the thread.

So now I have retired the old bobbin and I haven't had a problem with the stitch since. I knew it wasn't the machine letting me down.

Thursday, 12 January 2017

Very quick and easy. Why have I not stitched these before? I have been doodling these poppy seed heads alongside Sudoku puzzles off and on for months, and have only just stitched them for the first time this week. Originally I wanted to do poppy flowers, but decided the petals would be a bit of a fuss. In real life they drop off so quickly you spend more time looking at the seed heads, so perhaps the autumnal look is a bit more true to life.This photo is also interesting for another reason. The quilting was done a couple of days ago, and the stitch is fine. What happened in the meantime to throw the tension off? Just slightly, nothing drastic, but enough for me notice and be dissatisfied. I had a happy twenty minutes checking the tension and testing the stitch today. Let's hope it will be full steam ahead tomorrow.

The Secret Project is coming on apace. I am now on the ninth panel of eleven...

Here goes for Week 121...The quilt that caught my eye in Week 120 was Deana's flower quilt, beautifully quilted to complement the appliqué. If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over nowand have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.

Thursday, 5 January 2017

After having my son and daughter home from Ireland, and visiting my brother and his family in Surrey, life has been busy to say the least. Sewing has taken a back seat, and yesterday I finally did a bit of free motion quilting. The Secret Project is back on the anvil, so here is a tiny detail. There is a deadline, so I need to concentrate on this quilt for the next couple of months. Let's just hope I can steer clear of viruses, now that I am feeling rough for the second time within a month. I'm not moaning. Much.

Here goes for Week 120...The quilt that caught my eye in Week 119 was Angie's baby quilt - so sweet! If you haven't seen her blog post yet, nip over nowand have a closer look.

If you love free motion quilting, whether you are a beginner just taking the plunge, or you have reached the stage where you can do ostrich feathers with your eyes shut and still achieve perfect symmetry, then please link up.

Remember, FMQ is FMQ, whether your machine was made last week, or it is older than your granny.

Here are the very easy and slightly elastic rules:-1. Link up with any recent post, ideally from the last week but within the last month, which features a free motion quilting project, whether it is a work in progress or a finish.

2. Link back to this post in your own post and/or grab the linky button for your blog's sidebar.3. Visit as many of the other participants as possible and say hello in the comments box.4. The link up will remain open for four days, from midnight to midnight GMT for the long weekend, Friday to Monday.So far quilters from the USA, England, Wales, Australia, Canada, Germany, Holland, New Zealand, France, Macau, Russia, Ireland and Brazil have taken part. The first participant from each new country will get a special mention the following week.